CVE-2024-40998 ext4: fix uninitialized ratelimit_state->lock access in __ext4_fill_super()
A race condition in the Linux kernel ext4 filesystem allows accessing uninitialized locks, potentially causing a system crash or denial of service.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2024-40998?
CVE-2024-40998 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 12 Jul 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ext4: fix uninitialized ratelimit_state->lock access in __ext4_fill_super()
In the following concurrency we will access the uninitialized rs->lock:
ext4_fill_super ext4_register_sysfs // sysfs registered msg_ratelimit_interval_ms // Other processes modify rs->interval to // non-zero via msg_ratelimit_interval_ms ext4_orphan_cleanup ext4_msg(sb, KERN_INFO, "Errors on filesystem, " __ext4_msg ___ratelimit(&(EXT4_SB(sb)->s_msg_ratelimit_state) if (!rs->interval) // do nothing if interval is 0 return 1; raw_spin_trylock_irqsave(&rs->lock, flags) raw_spin_trylock(lock) _raw_spin_trylock __raw_spin_trylock spin_acquire(&lock->dep_map, 0, 1, _RET_IP_) lock_acquire __lock_acquire register_lock_class assign_lock_key dump_stack(); ratelimit_state_init(&sbi->s_msg_ratelimit_state, 5 * HZ, 10); raw_spin_lock_init(&rs->lock); // init rs->lock here
and get the following dump_stack:
========================================================= INFO: trying to register non-static key. The code is fine but needs lockdep annotation, or maybe you didn't initialize this object before use? turning off the locking correctness validator. CPU: 12 PID: 753 Comm: mount Tainted: G E 6.7.0-rc6-next-20231222 #504 [...] Call Trace: dump_stack_lvl+0xc5/0x170 dump_stack+0x18/0x30 register_lock_class+0x740/0x7c0 __lock_acquire+0x69/0x13a0 lock_acquire+0x120/0x450 _raw_spin_trylock+0x98/0xd0 ___ratelimit+0xf6/0x220 __ext4_msg+0x7f/0x160 [ext4] ext4_orphan_cleanup+0x665/0x740 [ext4] __ext4_fill_super+0x21ea/0x2b10 [ext4] ext4_fill_super+0x14d/0x360 [ext4] [...] =========================================================
Normally interval is 0 until s_msg_ratelimit_state is initialized, so ___ratelimit() does nothing. But registering sysfs precedes initializing rs->lock, so it is possible to change rs->interval to a non-zero value via the msg_ratelimit_interval_ms interface of sysfs while rs->lock is uninitialized, and then a call to ext4_msg triggers the problem by accessing an uninitialized rs->lock. Therefore register sysfs after all initializations are complete to avoid such problems.
Weakness: CWE-908
Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-40998?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2024-40998?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2024-40998 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-40998 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as AZL-67767, BELL-CVE-2024-40998, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-40998, GHSA-p23j-c29j-hjgv, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2024-40998, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2024-40998 and 2 more.